Wednesday, March 10, 2010

How to keep your hands clean.

It was close to 70 degrees F. here today! And it wasn't raining. I spent about 2 hours outside working on my herb/flower garden. I have developed arthritis in my hands, and could not keep it weeded last year, and so had about given up, and was going to eliminate most of it. Then, I felt inspired! I used the wheelbarrow, a pitch - fork, and lots of muscle and force and cleaned out about half of the goat shed and carted the gunk to the garden, through about 6 inches of mud. Well, that was the other day. Today, I had noticed some large pieces of bark that had fallen off logs my husband had split for firewood this winter. Aha! A road! So, I collected a barrow full of those, and used them to make a little path from the barn to the yard and although it certainly wasn't easy, and the goats kept jumping into the wheelbarrow and trying to escape when I'd open the gate, I did get quite a bit done. Then I had another idea... we have a HUGE pile of chopped up fallen leaves from last autumn in the woods behind our house. I was too beat to haul any more goat shed stuff, so I hauled some leaves. That was much easier. I'm not done yet, as I try to pace myself, but I will be back out as soon as the weather is decent on another day. I am going to mulch the garden very deeply. That should hold back most of the weeds. I also spread some wood ashes to help with the acid problem caused by the leaves. I think I have it about 2/3 done now.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I wanted to tell you how I kept my hands from getting stained. First of all, I scraped my fingernails over a damp bar of soap until there was soap stuck under all of them. Then, I applied a generous amount of this to my hands: http://shop.avon.com/shop/product.aspx?pf_id=33981 I have been using this for years and it is a wonderful product. The dirt and grime just washes right off of my hands and they do not get stained. I wear gloves only if I'm trying to prevent blisters. Otherwise, I like to work with my hands bare.

8 comments:

I like to work barehanded too. When we make stone we have to wear gloves and masks and other protective equipment.I use the deep mulch method and havnt weeded my greenhouse in several years. I read about it in an old Ruth Stout book. They might have one at your library if you dont already have one.Good idea on the pathway. Take care and dont over do. It will be there tomorrow.

The pictures you saw with the raised beds are of course new. Before that I just brought in loads and loads of straw. I made it very deep, like at least a foot. I spread it to completely cover the ground. It chokes out weeds and I never have to till either. I just move the straw back and dig a hole and plant what ever I am planting, then when the plants come up I tuck straw back around them. I do have to pull a weed now and then, maybe 5-10 weeds a season. Thats a guess cause there sure are not many.I like how the straw keeps the ground weed free and moist. I dont have to water as often either.When I do water I use a soaker hose laid on top of the straw. I be sure to soak the ground real good.At first I put the soaker hose on the ground and then the straw but I never knew exactly where it was to plant my plants close to it so I pulled it out and now lay it on top.Each year I just add more straw as it gets packed down.The first year I used almost a whole round bale, and they are BIG. I had it up to my knees, its hard to walk on when you first put it in but it packs down pretty quick.At one time we had our whold garden mulched that way and then we ended up having to put some goats in there who were kidding and they pretty much messed that up.I hope this helps.